Skip to main content
Prime Video
- Home
- Store
- Channels
Top categories
- Included with Prime
- Amazon Originals
- Movies
- TV
- Kids
- Sports
Genres
- Action and adventure
- Anime
- Black voices
- Comedy
- Documentary
- Drama
- Fantasy
- Foreign
- Horror
- LGBTQ
- Military and war
- Musicals
- Mystery and thriller
- Romance
- Science fiction
- Sports
Other categories
- New Releases
- Award winners
- Audio descriptions
- Featured deals
- Coming soon
- Watch Party
- My Stuff
- Deals
- Settings
- Getting Started
- Help
Travelling or based outside United States? Video availability outside of United States varies. Sign in to see videos available to you.
The Tillman Story
Chronicles the life of the late Pat Tillman, who walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals in 2002 to join the Army but died from friendly fire in Afghanistan.
- Directors
- Amir Bar-Lev
- Starring
- Pat Tillman, Josh Brolin, Mary Tillman
- Genres
- Documentary
- Subtitles
- English [CC]
- Audio languages
- English
Included with IMDb TV
By ordering or viewing, you agree to our Terms. Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Customers who watched this item also watched
More details
- Supporting actors
- Russell Baer, Patrick Tillman Sr.
- Producers
- John Battsek
- Studio
- Lionsgate
- Rating
- R (Restricted)
- Purchase rights
- Stream instantly Details
- Format
- Prime Video (streaming online video)
- Devices
- Available to watch on supported devices
Customer reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
216 global ratings
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A multidimensional personality and not the patriotic caricature he was portrayed as
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2019Verified Purchase
The biggest stunner of this biopic was that Pat opposed the war, read philosophers such as Camus, was a gentle and kind person, and given the opportunity to leave the military after his first tour and resume his football career, instead chose to honor his 3-year commitment and return to Afghanistan for a second combat tour. And for his trouble he was murdered by stupidity and carelessness by his fellow Rangers. When they show the Congressional committee that is supposed to be investigating the cover-up towards the end of the film instead fawning over the responsible generals and Rumsfeld, you will be standing in the middle of your living room screaming at the television. At least I was...
23 people found this helpful
Helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Let’s deal with the R rating first. There’s no nudity here, and no scenes of graphic violence nor drug use. The R rating must be based solely on conversations regarding the killing of both American and foreign fighters, as well as some vulgarity including the F-word, though some of that (such as talk broadcast over TV) had been silenced.
Possible spoiler alert: although I will not go into the actual details on how Pat died, I'll cover a lot of other ground the film reviews. Pretty much everyone knows the basics of the Tillman story: a professional football player who gave up a multi-million dollar contract to join the Army Rangers and fight in Afghanistan after 9/11. He’s killed over there; the Army initially portrays it as a courageous death from Taliban fire while charging up a hill and saving his fellow soldiers’ lives. Then strange facts start to emerge, like all of his clothing, armor, everything on him that day having been burned and all trace disappearing. The family, now suspicious, repeatedly asks the military questions. Eventually a large box containing what was said to be the entire file used for the official investigation, is turned over to them—but with so many details blacked out (like the name of every other soldier present, every location, etc) that it was almost useless. The family found an ex-military blogger with obvious extensive military experience who agreed to help them try to sort it all out. In the meantime the military reversed course and admitted that Tillman had been accidentally killed by friendly fire. The initial person to take the heat was the Army spokesperson who had appeared on TV in the weeks and months immediately after Tillman’s death, portraying the incorrect version of events.
After extensive further investigations and communication from Tillman’s family leading to one Congressional hearing, a full panoply of military officials up to Donald Rumsfeld were questioned. Strangely, all of them seemed afflicted with a severe case of amnesia. A second investigation eventually blamed only one other officer, who had already retired, and who officially lost one of his stars as a consequence.
The Tillman family (and others) obviously saw an extensive conspiracy among the military and civilian command layers, strengthened by the finding of one high-level “P-4” memo circulated to all the top brass alerting them to the conclusion that Tillman’s death was by friendly fire but asking them not to divulge the information. President Bush spoke publicly about Tillman’s great heroism and sacrifice for his country, without ever mentioning his being killed by friendly fire. Had he also seen the memo or been verbally advised of the conclusions? Naturally, no one who would know would admit to that fact, although listening to Bush’s wording, it was vague enough not to specify how Pat was killed. That in itself could easily be read in two ways: as typical of Bush’s (non)involvement with the families or with wounded veterans, he showed no personal interest in them, or else that he was maintaining a cover-up he knew about. The highest level most logically involved was Donald Rumsfeld, who had sent Tillman a personal letter of congratulations when he enlisted as a private, but then had total amnesia regarding the circumstances of his death.
This film does not rely on re-enactments. It makes use of actual footage, including from Tillman’s football career, wedding, funeral service, President Bush on TV, the congressional hearing, old photos from his childhood, as well as direct interviews of family members, some of his squad mates who were willing to talk, the investigator the Tillmans obtained, his former coach, his wife, and representative photos of redacted documents.
At one point, an official investigator is heard in a conversation blaming the family’s refusal to “let go” of his death, and their suspicions on their lack of religious beliefs, because “it must be hard to accept, when death is just the end of everything and going to the worms” or words to that effect, which sounds plausible for a second, until one imagines how you would react if you lost a loved one and it became apparent you were being lied to by officials about what really happened.
For me personally, the most galling scene was the end of the congressional hearing, at which one can see Rumsfeld and top military officials standing up, Rumsfeld at the least with a big grin on his face, all shaking hands and congratulating each other, rather than showing any apparent humility, remorse or even sympathy for the family.
I will save this much and more for you to see yourself if you haven’t watched the film: the actual details of how and why Tillman was shot by his fellow US forces. To the family’s credit, despite what appears to be blatant recklessness at a minimum, they make no effort to assign blame to any of Tillman’s fellow team members but rather are interested in uncovering how far up the conspiracy to suppress the truth went, and how it was used in an effort to drum up more recruits and enthusiasm for the war rather than to simply publicly admit that an American everyone was proud of was killed by friendly fire
.
Mention is also made that Tillman and his brother had both expected to be sent directly to Afghanistan, which after all was the country that harbored bin Laden and his allies and was controlled by the Taliban. Instead they were initially deployed to Iraq when Bush & company decided to invade there. He returned on leave from Iraq more than disgusted, rather infuriated at what he felt from firsthand observation was an illegal and immoral war. He even had an opportunity to leave the service early, as he was offered another professional football contract and the Army informed him it would have given him an early and honorable discharge if he wanted to sign—but he chose to stick out his full enlistment, resulting in his death.
Although free with swear words and admittedly not personally religious, Tillman had a rare combination of talents: great strength speed and coordination, a genuine interest in other people no matter how different their backgrounds, and an intelligent, inquisitive mind. When not physically busy, he read intellectually demanding works of wide diversity. His death at a young age really was a loss for our country—had he been able to stick it out in the military and learned not to offend superiors with too many outspoken opinions contradicting theirs, it looks to me like he could have made a fine general—of the type we certainly could use; one interested in the truth, in the morality of our actions, and talented enough to have capably been involved in strategic planning or to have led large numbers of troops in combat operations when the country found it necessary.
This film, focused on one person and one family, ends up being a microcosm of the mismanagement and outright deceptions that existed at the top through most of the Bush administration. Finally in his second term Bush had enough sense to replace Rumsfeld with Gates, who served with great distinction and was retained by President Obama until Mr. Gates himself chose to leave [increasingly frustrated, it seems, with the plans and the projected scope of budget cuts, and the size and pace of planned troop reductions].
Since this film doesn't use professional actors and doesn't cover dramatically new ground about our government or military, I don't give it the rating I reserve for films with a major place in film history--but it is definitely well-done and worth watching. My interest certainly never flagged.
Possible spoiler alert: although I will not go into the actual details on how Pat died, I'll cover a lot of other ground the film reviews. Pretty much everyone knows the basics of the Tillman story: a professional football player who gave up a multi-million dollar contract to join the Army Rangers and fight in Afghanistan after 9/11. He’s killed over there; the Army initially portrays it as a courageous death from Taliban fire while charging up a hill and saving his fellow soldiers’ lives. Then strange facts start to emerge, like all of his clothing, armor, everything on him that day having been burned and all trace disappearing. The family, now suspicious, repeatedly asks the military questions. Eventually a large box containing what was said to be the entire file used for the official investigation, is turned over to them—but with so many details blacked out (like the name of every other soldier present, every location, etc) that it was almost useless. The family found an ex-military blogger with obvious extensive military experience who agreed to help them try to sort it all out. In the meantime the military reversed course and admitted that Tillman had been accidentally killed by friendly fire. The initial person to take the heat was the Army spokesperson who had appeared on TV in the weeks and months immediately after Tillman’s death, portraying the incorrect version of events.
After extensive further investigations and communication from Tillman’s family leading to one Congressional hearing, a full panoply of military officials up to Donald Rumsfeld were questioned. Strangely, all of them seemed afflicted with a severe case of amnesia. A second investigation eventually blamed only one other officer, who had already retired, and who officially lost one of his stars as a consequence.
The Tillman family (and others) obviously saw an extensive conspiracy among the military and civilian command layers, strengthened by the finding of one high-level “P-4” memo circulated to all the top brass alerting them to the conclusion that Tillman’s death was by friendly fire but asking them not to divulge the information. President Bush spoke publicly about Tillman’s great heroism and sacrifice for his country, without ever mentioning his being killed by friendly fire. Had he also seen the memo or been verbally advised of the conclusions? Naturally, no one who would know would admit to that fact, although listening to Bush’s wording, it was vague enough not to specify how Pat was killed. That in itself could easily be read in two ways: as typical of Bush’s (non)involvement with the families or with wounded veterans, he showed no personal interest in them, or else that he was maintaining a cover-up he knew about. The highest level most logically involved was Donald Rumsfeld, who had sent Tillman a personal letter of congratulations when he enlisted as a private, but then had total amnesia regarding the circumstances of his death.
This film does not rely on re-enactments. It makes use of actual footage, including from Tillman’s football career, wedding, funeral service, President Bush on TV, the congressional hearing, old photos from his childhood, as well as direct interviews of family members, some of his squad mates who were willing to talk, the investigator the Tillmans obtained, his former coach, his wife, and representative photos of redacted documents.
At one point, an official investigator is heard in a conversation blaming the family’s refusal to “let go” of his death, and their suspicions on their lack of religious beliefs, because “it must be hard to accept, when death is just the end of everything and going to the worms” or words to that effect, which sounds plausible for a second, until one imagines how you would react if you lost a loved one and it became apparent you were being lied to by officials about what really happened.
For me personally, the most galling scene was the end of the congressional hearing, at which one can see Rumsfeld and top military officials standing up, Rumsfeld at the least with a big grin on his face, all shaking hands and congratulating each other, rather than showing any apparent humility, remorse or even sympathy for the family.
I will save this much and more for you to see yourself if you haven’t watched the film: the actual details of how and why Tillman was shot by his fellow US forces. To the family’s credit, despite what appears to be blatant recklessness at a minimum, they make no effort to assign blame to any of Tillman’s fellow team members but rather are interested in uncovering how far up the conspiracy to suppress the truth went, and how it was used in an effort to drum up more recruits and enthusiasm for the war rather than to simply publicly admit that an American everyone was proud of was killed by friendly fire
.
Mention is also made that Tillman and his brother had both expected to be sent directly to Afghanistan, which after all was the country that harbored bin Laden and his allies and was controlled by the Taliban. Instead they were initially deployed to Iraq when Bush & company decided to invade there. He returned on leave from Iraq more than disgusted, rather infuriated at what he felt from firsthand observation was an illegal and immoral war. He even had an opportunity to leave the service early, as he was offered another professional football contract and the Army informed him it would have given him an early and honorable discharge if he wanted to sign—but he chose to stick out his full enlistment, resulting in his death.
Although free with swear words and admittedly not personally religious, Tillman had a rare combination of talents: great strength speed and coordination, a genuine interest in other people no matter how different their backgrounds, and an intelligent, inquisitive mind. When not physically busy, he read intellectually demanding works of wide diversity. His death at a young age really was a loss for our country—had he been able to stick it out in the military and learned not to offend superiors with too many outspoken opinions contradicting theirs, it looks to me like he could have made a fine general—of the type we certainly could use; one interested in the truth, in the morality of our actions, and talented enough to have capably been involved in strategic planning or to have led large numbers of troops in combat operations when the country found it necessary.
This film, focused on one person and one family, ends up being a microcosm of the mismanagement and outright deceptions that existed at the top through most of the Bush administration. Finally in his second term Bush had enough sense to replace Rumsfeld with Gates, who served with great distinction and was retained by President Obama until Mr. Gates himself chose to leave [increasingly frustrated, it seems, with the plans and the projected scope of budget cuts, and the size and pace of planned troop reductions].
Since this film doesn't use professional actors and doesn't cover dramatically new ground about our government or military, I don't give it the rating I reserve for films with a major place in film history--but it is definitely well-done and worth watching. My interest certainly never flagged.
36 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2017
Verified Purchase
Anyone who has served in combat knows there can be great confusion and honest differences in memories of what happened. Many of us have lost comrades to "friendly fire" incidents. There, particularly, the perceptions of who was responsible gets messy and emotional. That said, this documentary make quite clear that there was at minimum, incredible negligence, politically motivated scapegoating and disinformation at the highest levels of government. Since this film was released Pat Tillman's mother has published a book with further details that raise even more questions. I found The Tillman Story both convincing and damning. How politicians use and abuse our war dead to boost their poll ratings makes me sick.
18 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2019
Verified Purchase
Appreciate the Tillman family for being honest & candid, and for sharing more of who Pat Tillman was. I realize he didn't wanna be lifted-up as a hero, but that's what made him a hero. His willingness to join the fight with such personal sacrifice, coupled with his humility, made him, and make him an example to be celebrated forever. Huge respect to Pat Tillman. Tragic the gov't higher-ups lied, but, at this point we've learned Rumsfeld lied about just about everything, so that comes as no surprise. This was an excellent movie, and hopefully shaming those generals on this video serves as a warning to future generals...
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
It shows the song and dance that we don't always see between our Congress and high-up state officials of our country. I got the feeling that the oversight committee probably ran things by the generals play by play so it would look official and when it's all done everyone goes home satisfied. It shows that no matter how important or high up in the world you might be, you are still dealing with human beings that will do whatever and say whatever to get out of trouble. Basically politics is just sales, and I'm sure there are some sales people with integrity but most of them are going to do whatever and say whatever to make the sale. We can all sense that corruption runs deep in politics, we just want to believe that our world is full of more good people that garbage people but I have a feeling that is not the case.
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Back to top
Get to Know Us
Make Money with Us
Amazon Payment Products
© 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates
